A new report from The Work Foundation argues that European countries together have a ‘knowledge economy’ that is as big if not bigger than that of the US, with over 40 per cent of workers employed in knowledge-based industries. But the continent has not matched the US in terms of economic growth and productivity largely because it has not invested as much in its knowledge base and may be suffering a slowdown in technological progress as a result.
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Knowledge Economy
Switzerland, Finland and Sweden are the world’s most competitive economies according to The Global Competitiveness Report 2006-2007, released by the World Economic Forum on 26 September 2006. Denmark, Singapore, the United States, Japan, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom complete the top ten list, but the United States shows the most pronounced drop, falling from first to sixth.
BusinessWeek’s special report on creativity argues that the Knowledge Economy as we know it is being eclipsed by something new — call it the Creativity Economy. A new corporate model focusing on creativity and innovation could provide companies new pathways to growth.
Growing research capability is a core component of the European Union’s drive to become the most competitive and dynamic, knowledge-driven economy. Ireland has fully embraced that challenge by releasing its Strategy for “Science, Technology and Innovation 2006 – 2013”.
The latest revision of the Knowledge Assessment Methodology (KAM) was published by the World Bank on March 2006. The KAM is an interactive benchmarking tool created by the Knowledge for Development Program to help countries identify the challenges and opportunities they face in making the transition to the knowledge-based economy.
The European Commission has taken a position on how best to modernise Europe’s universities, in order to make their contribution to the EU’s objective to become a leading global and knowledge-based economy. The universities have enormous potential, much of which unfortunately goes untapped because of various rigidities and hindrances.
A European Union report released Thursday showed big differences in the level of Internet use among EU nations, with Benelux and Nordic countries leading the way and eastern and southeastern Europe generally lagging behind. In the Netherlands, 78 percent of households are connected to the Net, compared to just 16 percent in Lithuania.